Past Days
by black.white.xtina
Summary: Years after Konoha fell, a scroll was discovered that enabled the survivors to travel back in time and do it all over again. This is their story. Sasusaku, NejiTen, NaruHina, ShikaIno, ShiTema, GaaMat, TsuJir
1. Prologue

**Soul Placement**

Two years. It had been two years since their home, families and livelihood had been ripped away from them by the Sound. Over these years, they had scavenged from all over for food, medicine and for scrolls. Ninja scrolls to be precise with new techniques in them. They wanted to get the Sound back for what they did to them, but their motives were not entirely selfish. There were stories, rumours of the Sound Empire growing in strength, taking over the last three great shinobi nations now that Konoha and Suna were gone.

This was why they sat round the campfire now, discussing their options.

"The Sound were strong enough to take out the Akatsuki so I say the best is a sneak attack from the inside." Tenten put forward.

Some would say that Tenten had had more to grieve for after Konoha fell, considering she lost her two year son along with her husband Neji and their long time friend Lee, who was also godfather to little Senji Hizashi and he died to protect him. In vain it turned out. But Tenten also knew the pain of never even seeing your child and all you can do is imagine what they could have been like.

"Yeah but only after Sasuke took out Deidara, Itachi, Kisame and Tobi, Sakura and Chiyo took out Sasori and Shikamaru took out Hidan." Temari pointed out.

Before Konoha had been attacked by the Sound it had first targeted Suna. Even with the large number of Konoha ninjas that Tsunade and Naruto had sent, it hadn't been enough. Gaara, the Kazekage, had been murdered in front of the entire village. Kankuro and Temari had been left for dead. Later they got up and travelled the long journey to Konoha. They both survived only for Kankuro to die in the second attack on Konoha. It was during this time that Temari met her long time boyfriend, Shino Aburame. He died in the final attack on Konoha and now it was the thought of avenging his and her brothers' deaths that kept her going.

"Yes still it was by sheer numbers that Oto overpowered and it's this way at which they can get you. So I like Tenten's idea which means that you can take out as many as possible with minimum risk to yourselves."

No longer the Hokage, Tsunade's words still carried a lot of weight. The girls had found her surrounded by Sound ninjas, with her neck broken. This did not kill her, even though the Sound ninjas assumed it did, but it did leave her paralysed from the neck down. Sakura had managed to work miracles though and Tsunade had regained the use of her upper body, if not her legs, which left her able to study the scrolls the girls brought back. Having lost her boyfriend and her 'brother' again had hardened Tsunade's eyes so no emotion was seen but the girls still managed to catch a hint of triumph in her eyes as they won small victories against the Sound.

"I think that a few well placed bombs would only help our mission. But I also think we should wait for Matsuri and Hinata." The last part of the Ino-Shika-Cho, Ino had teamwork bred into her and did not like to think up a plan before seeing what the whole group could contribute to ideas. Ino-Shika-Cho caused a lot of damage to the Sound ninja which meant that the Sound tried to finish them as soon as possible. But they failed, as Team 10 went the same way as the rest of the Konoha 12 and lasted until the final battle before Konoha fell. Glancing round at her fellow survivors a thought came to her. "Hey guys don't you think it's weird that the main survivors of the Sound are all female?" The others smiled slightly as if this fact had just occurred to them.

"Well I think that's fate's cruel joke that the so called 'weaker shinobi' were the ones who survived the great Sound invasion." The only female of Team 7 laughed bitterly. After Sasuke had left, Team 7 had grown to include Sai and Yamato but it was still only Sakura that outlived them all.

Sakura had a very large grudge against the Sound especially as they found out that Sasuke's curse mark let Orochimaru have influence over his mind even when not in use, but also for the fact that they took her husband and her unborn child from her in the same day. Sakura was relentless in trying to stop Orochimaru and making him pay for his crimes and thought she finally understood Sasuke's revenge drive.

Any thoughts of Sakura's bitter comment were left unsaid as Hinata and Matsuri arrived, each carrying a very large scroll.

"Success." Matsuri crowed as she set the scroll down carefully next to Tsunade.

During the war Matsuri had been one of the unlucky ones. After watching her fiancé being murdered in front of her. She was taken to Sound as a slave. She managed to fool them into thinking she was a boy which meant she escaped life as a sex slave to one of the ninjas but life still wasn't pleasant. Regular beatings and little food and care led to her getting sick with pneumonia. Oto had no use for sick slaves so she was left outside to die. This was where her luck changed and she was picked up by Hinata and Temari and drawn into the band of survivors after she was recognised.

"Don't worry we've checked them." Hinata reassured the Godaime as she set down her scroll next to her. Hinata had fought alongside her teammates and her husband, the Sixth Hokage as they forced the Sound back during the first few battles. However, as her friends did, she watched them all die in front of her. As Naruto fell, she lost hope.

"Well what do the scrolls say?" Tenten asked impatiently as Tsunade scanned them.

"It has to be important because the Sound kept them really heavily guarded and Orochimaru apparently said they were his ticket to getting the Sharingan." Matsuri commented as she watched Tsunade read them. Sakura jerked round to face her.

"He hasn't used it already has he?" She asked, a rare note of fear entering into her voice.

"No." Tsunade answered her with a self satisfied smile. "The warnings read that the only ones who can use this jutsu is one with a good and unselfish heart." Ino snorted.

"Which rules out Orochimaru out completely." She said.

"He must have wanted to alter it in some way." Hinata said thoughtfully. The group turned to Tsunade as she let out a shocked gasp and her eyes widened.

"This is..." Tsunade started before she swallowed and tried again. "This is a time travel jutsu." She immediately had their full attention.

"What do you mean?" Temari asked slowly.

"Look!" Tsunade laid the scroll out flat on the rock beside the camp fire. It unrolled and the girls clambered around it.

"Soul Placement Jutsu." Ino read out loud and everyone scanned the scroll.

"Do you know what this means?" Tenten asked excitedly.

"It means we can go back in time and beat old Snakeface at his own game." Ino crowed and for 30 seconds the girls all celebrated.

"Okay now serious." Hinata reminded them and they immediately stopped celebrating, even Tsunade. "We need to memorise these scrolls as quickly as possible and the burn them so Orochimaru can never get his hands on them."

"Right!" They answered before they set to work.

Two weeks and several run ins with Sound ninja later, and the group watched the bonfire of scrolls burn. As soon as it burned out they were planning.

"Right so it's five years per person right?" Matsuri asked and Tsunade nodded.

"And it can only handle 3 people with 7 people during the jutsu so we'll send Temari back first, to two years after the Kyuubi attack, Ino, Sakura and Hinata 7 years after the attack and then Tenten, Matsuri and I will go back 12 years after. If you want to know if someone remembers, salute. Everyone okay with that?" The question was mainly directed at Hinata and Tenten. Hinata because it was going back after the Cloud try to kidnap her and Neji's father is killed and it was very late after that Tenten was going back.

"Yes I do want to mess up the timeline too much but I want enough time so Naruto-kun doesn't feel alone." Hinata answered quietly. Tenten nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, what if I get higher marks and not actually on a team with Neji and Lee at all?"

"But that could be a problem with us three as well." Ino called out, worried.

"Don't worry you'll still be on the Ino-Shika-Cho team and it shouldn't be too hard for Sakura and Hinata to fake their scores considering they got high mental scores and low physical scores. But Hinata you might have to fake your talent in front of your father okay?" Tsunade checked and they 

all nodded. "Okay you lot be the best actresses you can be and maybe this mission will be a success." Everyone smiled slightly at her before focusing on the pattern they had drawn on the ground.

"Okay when I keel over, it means my Soul is gone and Ino, Sakura and Hinata you have to start the personal chants and then when they drop, you three start. Got it?" Temari called out as she sat down in one of the connecting circles. Everyone nodded. Temari took in a deep breath. "Right let's go." She said a lot more confidently than she felt. The chanting started.

**You like? You dislike? Please let me know. I love it when people tell me their favourite bits or worst bits so that is especially welcome along with constructive criticism (but with a little bit of positive reinforcement as well) and ideas you have. I always consider even though I have a rough idea of what's going to happen in this story, sort of. Also questions welcome!**

**Also pairings are Sasusaku, NejiTen, ShikaIno, NaruHina, TsuJir, TemShi, GaaMat**

**With the time travel jutsu the amount of power on person puts in takes you back about 5 years, give or take for chakra amount. So 4 people would be able to send someone back 20 years, understand? And the amount of people being sent back depend on how many people are doing the jutsu.**

**Review please!**


	2. Life In Suna

**Warning: Some swearing and violence. But you should expect that, it's rated T after all. **

**Life In Suna**

**2 years after the Kyuubi attack**

Temari blinked slowly, as she came out of her sleep. She sat up and looked at the sunlight streaming through her window before it fully clicked in her brain. When she noticed, she scrambled out of bed and noticed how large everything was. As it fully sunk in she let out a high pitched squeal of delight. There were footsteps outside her door and it was suddenly thrown open to reveal her uncle with Gaara hiding behind his legs.

"Temari what's wrong?" Yashamaru asked as he searched her room for intruders with his eyes. Temari smiled a wide smile at Gaara and answered,

"Nothing's wrong oji-san." Gaara smiled tentatively back at his sister and her smile grew bigger. She bounded up to him and he shrank back slightly.

"Good morning baby brother." Temari sang to him and kissed him on the forehead where his tattoo had been in the future.

"Is there something wrong Temari? You've never been this nice to Gaara before." Yashamaru said, confused. Temari stared at him with slightly narrowed eyes. 'There's something not quite right here,' she thought but shook it off.

"Why wouldn't I be nice to my baby brother? Apart from you and otou-san telling me to stay away." Temari said innocently trying to provoke a reaction from him. He avoided her eyes and suddenly started moving towards the door.

"I really should get breakfast ready. Come on Gaara." Yashamaru called to a confused Gaara but Temari said, again with apparent innocence,

"Do you want to go play ball Gaara? Gaara looked at her with longing.

"I've never played ball before." He said wistfully and Temari smiled at him.

"First time for everything. And since it's your first time I'll piggy back you."

"Piggy back?" Gaara asked, once again confused. Temari sighed, turned around and bent down.

"Now get on my back, put your arms around my neck and your legs around my waist." Gaara did so. "And now up we go!" Temari called as they went down the corridor to Kankuro's bedroom. Temari put Gaara down to bang on the door, before picking him up again, this time in her arms.

"Kankuro! Time to get up!" Temari shouted and felt a thrill of happiness as she hugged Gaara. Even after Naruto and Matsuri Gaara had not been big on the physical contact. But Temari aimed to change all that and when Kankuro showed himself, she impulsively hugged him as well.

"Mari? What's going on?" Kankuro asked sleepily as he rubbed his eyes in a very child-like manner.

"Mari." Temari muttered to herself before nodding decisively. "I like it. That can be my nickname!" Kankuro and Gaara stared at her.

"Really? 'Cause you shouted at me when I used it before." Kankuro said, very confused while Gaara fiddled with Temari's hair

"That was before. Now I like it. So cat-chan and panda-chan you can call me Mari if you like." Temari decided and Kankuro wrinkled his nose.

"Why am I cat-chan when you're just Mari?" Kankuro whined and Temari answered,

"One cause I came up with it and two because it suits you. Don't worry I'll call you otouto in public."

"Mari?" Came a whisper from her shoulder and she and Kankuro turned their attention to Gaara.

"Yeah sweetie?" Temari asked and when Gaara pointed to himself, Temari instantly got what he wanted to know. "Yeah you're panda-chan and baby brother. Those are your nicknames."

Temari froze as she felt Yashamaru's chakra signature approach. The two boys picked up on her tension and wondered what it was about. A moment later, Yashamaru stuck his head around the corner and Temari's grip on Gaara tightened. In the future Gaara had given them a brief overview of what turned him into the killer they had known but Temari had always suspected there was more because 'otou-san sent Yashamaru to kill me' did not describe the complete change in Gaara's attitude. Also it explained why she felt wary around Yashamaru. But now she knew not to trust Yashamaru with Gaara.

"There you are Gaara, I was looking for you. Come and help me make breakfast." Yashamaru motioned to Gaara as if he expected him to follow. For a minute Gaara was going to follow like he always did but then Temari squeezed him tighter and Kankuro whispered,

"Otouto?" to him as if he understood the choice Gaara would have to make here. Gaara made his choice.

"Ball." He whispered to Temari who beamed back at him.

"What did you say Gaara?" Yashamaru asked, confused by what was going on. Temari turned to face him.

"Gaara said he's coming to play ball with Kankuro and I." She then spun round and leading Kankuro by then hand, she walked outside, triumphant with her small victory.

Outside they spent most of the morning playing ball and when Yashamaru called them for lunch Temari gave a piggy back to Kankuro this time while Gaara trailed beside her, looking up at his siblings in wonder.

In the afternoon Yashamaru said that they should get out of the house and the garden and told them to go to the park. Gaara was a bit wary of this but Kankuro and Temari encouraged him and bribed him with the promise of more ball.

"So what should we play? Should we play piggy in the middle? Or hide and seek?" Temari questioned her brothers as they made their way to the park, Temari holding her brothers' hands while Gaara clutched the ball in his other hand.

"I don't like the park." Gaara said quietly and Temari looked at him with a concerned expression.

"Why don't you like the park baby brother?"

"Because the mean people are there." He replied and looked up at Temari with painful eyes that made Temari's heart clench. She stopped and gave Gaara a swift, if tight, hug.

"Well this time I'm here too and I can beat the mean people." Temari sounded exactly like a mother reassuring her son which was most likely why Gaara smiled and accepted it. Temari stood up, grabbed Kankuro's hand and started headed for the park again. At the park were children of all ages, ranging from 2 to 12. They were all playing and laughing on the playground but when they saw the Kazekage's children, namely Gaara they stopped and stared. Temari however ignored them and walked on with Gaara and Kankuro to a part of the park near the cliff face and set up a game of piggy in the middle. The children watched them do this but as Gaara used the sand to get the ball they all collectively flinched.

"Hey no fair! He's got the sand on his side." Kankuro whined to Temari who smiled at him.

"And you have height. Now you're even." Kankuro thought about this and then accepted it and went to the middle. After this the children went back to playing albeit they kept one eye on the trio all the time.

Eventually even Temari got tired of the constant tension and gathered her brothers together. They walked slowly back to the house and watched as the sky around them got darker and the stars coming out.

"I love the stars." Temari commented out the blue and sought to explain herself even though her brothers didn't ask. "They're just so peaceful. Also I heard a story once that stars are the souls of the dead watching over us." Kankuro and Gaara looked at the stars too with quiet solemnity and a faintly wistful air.

They spent rest of the day playing an old board game Temari had found and when they went to bed, Temari hugged and kissed Kankuro and Gaara before retiring.

But this would not be the last time they saw each other that night. Gaara, to save him from falling asleep was reading in the library when he heard it. A choking sound that was muffled by the walls. He followed the sound to its source and ended up at Temari's door where Kankuro was waiting for him.

"Should we go in?" Kankuro whispered to Gaara who shrugged. However when a loud cry came they both swept into the room without a second thought. In the room they saw the small figure of Temari twisting and turning on the bed.

"Temari!" Kankuro cried in alarm while Gaara ran up and launched himself onto Temari's bed. He was more scared than he ever remembered being and his fear and confusion at what was happening choked him so his voice came out high and terrified when he said,

"Mari, please wake up. Mari, wake up!"

"Boys? What is going on? What are you doing in Temari's room?" Yashamaru entered the room by saying and both Kankuro and Gaara sighed in relief when they saw him.

"Yashamaru! Temari won't wake up and we don't know what to do!" Kankuro said concernedly and Yashamaru examined Temari with a frown.

"She's just having a nightmare. I think you boys should get back to bed. It's going to be less confusing to her if there isn't as many people here." Gaara and Kankuro stared at Yashamaru in surprise but when he made a shooing motion they left without question. After all he was the adult and he knew best. After they were gone Yashamaru examined Temari. "This isn't good for you Temari. We should get you to a psychiatrist as soon as possible." After he told her this, he set about trying to wake her up. However as Temari's eyes opened and connected with his, he was unprepared for the rage that filled her eyes.

"MURDERER!" She shrieked before punching his jaw up and making him fly into the corner of the room. Temari scanned the room quickly and then hurled herself out of bed and out the door trying to find Kankuro and Gaara. She did not have to go far, they were round the next corner having heard her scream when they were on their way to their bedrooms.

"Oh thank goodness." Temari muttered as she drew them into a bone-breaking hug. "I was so worried that something had happened to you." It was plainly obvious that Kankuro and Gaara did not know what to do and so Kankuro just mimicked her actions earlier and rubbed her back making soothing sounds while Gaara stroked her hair. Breaking up this tender scene was Yashamaru who stumbled round the corner clutching his jaw.

"Temari I really think that was unnecessary." Yashamaru said and a flash of blind panic came into her eyes before she managed to clamp down on the emotions still raw from her nightmare.

"It was unnecessary, I agree. I was just worried about Gaara and Kankuro since the nightmare was about them." Yashamaru nodded understandingly.

"Okay. Do you two want to sleep in Temari's bed with her?" He asked Kankuro and Gaara who nodded. Yashamaru led them back to Temari's room with Temari staring in surprise at his back. She did not realise how Yashamaru could be this nice. But then again she and Kankuro had never accepted Gaara while he was alive and maybe that just compacted Yashamaru's view of the fact that Gaara should be taken out if even his own siblings feared him. But Temari cut herself off from this morbid train of thought and settled down into bed, positioning Kankuro against the wall and then Gaara next with her on the side of the bed facing the door. As Yashamaru tucked them in Temari smiled up at him and at that moment Yashamaru realised how old Temari's eyes looked and it scared him. He left quickly after that and Temari watched Kankuro fall asleep and Gaara fall into a meditative trance, before she finally slipping off to sleep.

**Next day**

"But I don't need to see a doctor, I'm not sick." Temari protested as Yashamaru pulled her along, even though she was quite sure that she wasn't going to see a medical doctor but a five year old would not know that, even an unusually mature five year old which Temari was pretending to be.

"Well this isn't a doctor that will look after your body, this doctor will help you with your nightmares so just try and talk to him please?" Temari nodded sullenly and Yashamaru smiled before ruffling her hair and walking off.

"I don't want to see no stupid shrink. This is definitely not what I expected." Temari muttered as she marched into the psychiatrist's office.

"Hello Temari, I'm Dr. Ito but you can just call me Ito-san." The middle aged man said as Temari stepped into the office.

"Okay Ito-san." Temari answered demurely. She could almost see the cogs turning in his mind, 'Willing to obey authority, check.'

"Now Temari-chan I've heard from your ojii-san that you have disturbing nightmares about your brothers." Dr. Ito said and waited.

"That is correct Ito-san." Temari confirmed.

"Would you like to tell me what happens in these nightmares?"

"No Ito-san." Dr. Ito blinked in surprise.

"Are you sure Temari-chan?" He made sure that she was understood what she was saying.

"Yes Ito-san." Temari said getting blanker and more monotone by the minute.

"Okay how do you feel towards your brothers?" Ito tried to try another tack.

"I love them." Temari's simple summary of her feelings again left Ito gaping and he started scribbling down onto his clipboard which he had picked up at the beginning of the questioning.

"Well how would you feel if you lost them?" Ito probed.

"I would feel devastated." Temari gave another simple answer seeing how much the short answers were annoying him.

"Anything else?" Ito asked and Temari narrowed her eyes at him. She saw what he was doing and tried to warn him off.

"Well if they were taken from me by people I knew or even enemy ninja then I would feel rage until I avenged them." Ito gulped nervously at Temari's calm answers.

"Well I think I have everything I need so you can leave." Temari smiled at this and exited the room.

"Thank goodness that's over." Temari muttered as she walked calmly out of the building and then jumped onto a nearby roof and travelling that way after she got outside.

At home she looked around for Gaara and Kankuro but they seemed to be strangely absent. Temari closed her eyes and tried to pick up their chakra signatures. She sensed three flickering chakra signatures by the training grounds and as she recognised two of them, she started making her way to the training grounds as fast as possible. When she got there, she saw a seemingly innocent scene, Yashamaru talking to Gaara and Kankuro solemnly but as she masked her chakra and performed a cloaking jutsu, the talk revealed its sinister intentions.

"Now Temari had to go to a special doctor today because something has gone wrong in her brain to make her act like not herself." Yashamaru was explaining to the boys.

"So that means everything Temari has been telling us..?" Kankuro asked Yashamaru.

"Is not true. And your father feels that it would be better if you were kept separate." Yashamaru said firmly. Gaara and Kankuro looked sad and confused.

"But I don't want to." Gaara said quietly. "I want to stay with onee-chan and nii-san." Kankuro looked surprised but then nodded vigorously. The watching Temari felt her eyes swell with moisture at their loyalty.

"But you will kill her. Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow but you will. Can you live with the fact that you killed one of the people that accepted you?" Gaara looked sick and uneasy. Yashamaru with an air of triumph, it seemed to the watching Temari, turned to Kankuro. "And Kankuro. Could you live with Gaara even though he could kill you at any time?" Kankuro hesitated and this was enough for Yashamaru. And also for Temari.

"Why hello Oji-san." She greeted with a heavy lacing of sarcasm and all three of them jumped. "What were you talking about with _my _little brothers?" The possessive tone in Temari's voice was put there to warn Yashamaru off.

"Ah hello Temari, how did your visit to the doctor go?" he tried to ask nonchalantly.

"It went fine, considering I had nothing wrong with me and him continually insinuating that I did was very annoying." Temari said coolly and Yashamaru blinked at the mature language.

"But Temari even you have to admit that those types of nightmares are not usual for a kid your age." He tried to persuade her.

"Every kid goes through some kind of nightmare. The only problem is that my nightmare was a little more intense than usual but with my childhood that doesn't seem so unusual." Temari answered back with and then turned to Gaara and Kankuro. "Hey guys do you want to go somewhere else and talk?" Gaara and Kankuro nodded slowly. "Come on then." And then she offered her hand to both of them and they disappeared into a whirl of sand.

**4 years after the Kyuubi attack**

A year later Temari was glad to see that Yashamaru was slowly losing his influence on Gaara, while Gaara still cared for him he now turned to Temari when he had a problem or even when he wanted to play. And if Temari was happy about this because now she saw her brother laugh and smile which even though he did this in the other timeline Temari had always been too afraid of him even before The Incident (which is what she and Kankuro had nicknamed whatever had happened to Gaara that turned him) to actually appreciate it. Now what worried Temari was the planning Yashamaru and her father seemed to do together, and how she had very sneaky suspicion that it was about Gaara. When her father called the three of them into his office her worries heightened causing her to step in front of Gaara and Kankuro slightly and face her father side on so she could watch him and the door at the same time. Yashamaru, who had spent a lot of time with them over the past year, noticed this but put it down as Temari's behaviour that had developed over the last year. The Kazekage however did not notice this and carried on with what he had been planning to say,

"I have called all three of you in here to inform you that you will start your shinobi training soon. Of course this will be taught at different levels for all of you so you two, Kankuro and Temari will be taught by your sensei Baki, while I will oversee Gaara's training. "Gaara and Kankuro looked horrified but Temari's face had fallen into the familiar lines that had served her so well after the year.

"That will be okay," She started and her brothers switched to stare at her in horror, "on one condition," the confident smirk on her father's face faded. He had thought when he got Temari on his side then persuading the other two, especially Gaara, would be easy.

"What?" He growled out.

"The training will be at different times so we can observe the others training and if necessary interfere." Temari stated in a calm voice and she almost heard her brothers exhale and move closer to her.

"No that will not work." The Kazekage said icily as he glared at his daughter who met his stare with an unwavering one of her own.

"Then we'll just have to train on our own, or maybe we can all train with this Baki person." Temari shrugged as if she did not care where the training came from. Her father glared at her and she could almost see the cogs turning in his mind.

"Fine. You can all train with Baki in the morning and then I will train Gaara in the afternoon while you observe." He bit out, clearly unhappy with the agreement.

"That is fine." Temari answered, smiling sweetly. "Oh and otou-sama? You might want to work on controlling your emotions. It's one of the shinobi rules after all." With that she swung round and ushered her brothers out the room but not before she heard a rush of cloth and Gaara's sand had risen up to the back of her. He had swung round and was glaring heatedly (or as heatedly as a four year old could) at his father who had lifted a kunai in attack.

"You don't hurt her! You don't even touch her!" Temari smirked slightly to herself before turning to her father.

"Don't even think about hurting them either Kazekage-sama." She said mockingly before leading Kankuro and Gaara out. When they had reached the house with Gaara and Kankuro trying to talk several times and her hushing them, she swung round and gave the two of them a bone-crunching hug.

"Mari! Can't breathe!" Kankuro gasped out while Gaara was hugging back enthusiastically. She released and then bent down slightly so she was at their eye level.

"You two were the best. You let me handle it and thank you Gaara for you helped and don't think I didn't see you glaring at otou-sama Kankuro, which just reinforced Gaara's threat." Kankuro and Gaara grinned at her widely but they quickly turned to worried looks when they saw her tears.

"Mari? You okay?" Gaara asked reaching a hand up to stroke her hair while Kankuro patted her on the knee.

"Yeah baby brother I'm fine." Temari said, grinning again and they smiling uncertainly back at her. "Hey I know, why don't we go visit a friend of mine?" Temari stood up and started swiping the tears away off her face.

"Sure, come on otouto." Kankuro said decisively and Temari took both brothers hand in hand.

Across town the door swung open as soon as Temari knocked on it. A brunette civilian woman opened the door and was quickly checking herself before she looked up. When she saw who was standing at her door she stumbled back and the colour fled from her face.

"Hello, did you have a daughter Matsuri recently? She's about 2 years old." Temari said cheerily as if she had not seen this but Gaara and Kankuro looked confused at this reception. The woman nodded and Temari continued, " Good, cause she's my friend and she said that she lived here. May we see her?" Temari asked politely but now that the woman was over her shock she looked mildly confused.

"Mat-chan doesn't talk yet." She said quietly and Temari nodded her head thoughtfully.

"Can we still see her please?" The woman just dazedly opened the door wider and Temari walked in to where she remembered where the sitting room was. There was a small brunette toddler sitting on a rug in the middle of the floor who grinned up at them as they approached.

"Hi Mattie-chan you don't remember but I remember you." Temari whispered to her as she sat down in front of her.

"Are you sure this is okay Mari? The woman at the door looked at me with the same eyes as the villagers." Gaara told her upset and outside Matsuri's mother held her breath as she waited for the answer.

"Yeah it's fine. Besides after she spends some time with you and knows what a sweet boy you are I'm sure she'll love you." Temari smiled to herself as she felt Matsuri's mother slight chakra of a civilian spike in shame before she headed to the kitchen. "Besides we need to meet new people outside our family like Matsuri here." Here Temari picked up Matsuri and put her in her lap so she could face Gaara and Kankuro. She giggled and tried to grab Kankuro's cat ears.

"I've never seen a baby this close before." Kankuro said in awe as he held his finger up to Matsuri and she tried to grab it.

"Why don't you try Gaara?" Temari asked when she saw it was obvious that he wanted to touch the small child but was holding back.

"But what if I hurt her?" Gaara whispered looking fearful.

"You won't but just in case that Shukaku rebels I'm here too and you won't hurt her." Temari tried to reassure him but Gaara looked more terrified.

"But what if I hurt you too?" He asked, petrified at this new development. This was an old fear that Yashamaru had created 2 years ago and Temari used the same argument that she used back then.

"You won't. I'm stronger that the demon. Look, just hold a finger up." Gaara did so and Matsuri clasped it tightly and gurgled. Gaara's expression turned to wonder as he realised that nothing bad was happening.

"Wow." He said softly to himself. Matsuri's mother that came in looked horrified at seeing the 'Demon of the Village' touching her precious only child but Temari's glare silenced her before she voiced her thoughts and she set the tea set down.

"So what is your name?" Temari asked confidently, the smile on her face completely eradicating the glare that was there before.

"M..my name is Yumi." Matsuri's mother stuttered.

"You have a very nice daughter." Kankuro said, trying to put her at ease. Yumi smiled briefly at him and relaxed slightly.

"Yes she is, isn't she Gaara?"

"She's so small. Was I ever this small?" Gaara asked Temari in wonder. Temari nodded and beamed widely.

"Yep, in fact you were even tinier when you were born." Temari answered and even Yumi smiled when Gaara smiled at Matsuri.

"Mari we have to go otherwise we'll be late for dinner." Kankuro said and Temari hurriedly stood up when she saw the time. She handed Matsuri to Yumi and hustled her brothers out the door.

"Thanks for having us over!" She called back even though she was well aware that she had forced her and her brothers in there with no consent from Yumi.

**6 years after the Kyuubi attack**

"Mari! Mari! Baki-sensei taught us a new jutsu! He taught Gaara this jutsu called 'Sand Coffin' and he taught me how to outfit my puppet with poison!" Kankuro burst into the kitchen where Temari was along with Gaara right behind him.

"That's great otouto." Temari said as she turned away from her instructor, who was teaching her the skills so she could survive in enemy territory. On the list at the moment was cooking and it was boring Temari stiff, considering she had learnt it all before, but a mature vocabulary she could explain away with lots of reading, perfect skill at cooking when she had done no practical before she could not.

"And Mari I was really good at the 'Sand Coffin'." Gaara told Temari quietly as she bent down to hear him.

"That's brilliant baby brother." Temari whispered back and Gaara gave one of his bright smiles that he only did for her and Kankuro. Temari then turned her body to include both her brothers and then asked them, "So everything went okay today? No one bothered you and you got on with Baki-sensei?" Her boys nodded and then Gaara said with a mischievous smile,

"Except for when ani called Baki-sensei, 'a big idiot who couldn't tell a puppet from a kunai'."

"Kankuro! You didn't." Temari said, looking shocked but inside all she felt was amusement. Back in the original timeline Kankuro had been a bit of a prankster before he became a bully to try and get their father's attention. The bullying earned him far more praise since the Kazekage though for 'acting like a shinobi' so Kankuro continued with it. Temari tried to stop her brother but he was not going to listen to his big sister when his father told him what he was doing was right. Temari lost what some of the respect she had for her father, and then lost it all when she found out what he had done to Gaara after the chunnin exams. In this timeline he was listening more to Temari than his father and this was only an improvement in Temari's eyes.

"Well he was being stupid saying that we had to do some more training when it was time to meet you so I just told him off a little bit. And since Gaara agreed with me we were allowed to go home to you." Kankuro explained in the righteous way that only young children have and Temari smiled at the sight.

"Well okay but tomorrow I'm coming with you and you can apologize to sensei because you could have put in a better way than that. And then we will spend an extra hour at training because we'll all be together. Is that okay with you two?" Temari asked and the boys nodded.

"Well can you make us more of those blankets then?" Kankuro asked hopefully and Temari rolled her eyes. Every since she had made some home-made blankets for Gaara and Kankuro, so they would have something comforting to hold onto (since their father was not so good at the gift-giving) when she was not there, they had been obsessed with them and they both carried them on their person, Gaara in his gourd and Kankuro in the bandages that held his main puppet, Karasu. However since Temari would do anything to make her brothers happy she just sighed and nodded.

"Thank you onee-chan." Kankuro said and both he and Gaara hugged her before running off to their bedrooms to change for the formal dinner they were having with their father tonight.

"You treat them like your children." Temari's instructor commented and Temari tensed up. She had forgotten that her instructor was still there.

"Well without a biological mother I'm the nearest thing they have." Temari answered before rising slowly and facing her sensei with a neutral expression on her face. The instructor looked at her with an inscrutable expression and then nodded.

"In that case I pity anyone who tries to hurt them." The instructor said before turning back to the counter to start packing up.

"I don't. If they try and hurt them, then whatever I do to them they brought on themselves." Temari got in the last word before she exited the kitchen.

**That evening**

"You have all become very powerful especially you Gaara. Soon you should be entered into the village's academy where your brother and sister are now enrolled." The Kazekage said to his children as they sat eating.

"Yes otou-sama." Temari answered as per usual. Kankuro and Gaara especially seemed to withdraw into themselves in presence of their father.

"And Gaara you shall start doing private lessons with me again." The man sat calmly eating as if he had not dropped a bombshell. Temari froze in horror while Kankuro choked and Gaara narrowed his eyes at his father. The last attempt at private lessons had not gone well.

_Flashback_

_"You have to work harder Gaara." His father shouted harshly at him and Gaara started shaking in terror. Kankuro and Temari had been restrained hours ago to stop them interfering. The Kazekage looked in disgust down at his youngest son before a movement out the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned his head to see Temari throwing off the jounin who tried to stop her in her desperation to get to Gaara. An idea formed in his mind and he turned to Gaara with a smirk. Gaara flinched at the sight. _

_"Or maybe you're not motivated enough." He said and then disappeared. Temari, who had frozen at what he had said to Gaara, noticed that his feet had turned their way before he disappeared. With this thought she finally broke free of the people restraining her and leapt in front of Kankuro. All Gaara saw was the kunai heading directly to his sister's unprotected back. _

_"NO!" He cried in horror and the sand reacted to his emotion and raced across the floor to intercept the kunai. The Kazekage looked pleased with this turn of event, or at least he did until Gaara turned to him with vicious cruelness in his eyes. "You tried to kill her! You don't hurt them! I told you that a year ago." The sand started rising up around Gaara and the jounins started to head towards him to try and protect the Kazekage but Temari was faster than them all. _

_"Hey Gaara." She called as she placed Kankuro down and started stroking Gaara's hair to try and calm him down._

_"I warned him Mari, I told him he could not hurt you or Kankuro yet he still did." Gaara's voice was deeper and with a chill Temari recognised Shukaku's voice behind Gaara's voice. It seemed the demon was taking advantage of Gaara's protectiveness towards his siblings to fulfil his killing instinct. _

_"Yes I know. And he was stupid but you stopped him and Kankuro and I are both all right. So you can relax." Temari said soothingly and Kankuro joined in with trying to calm their brother. _

_"Yeah no one got hurt and I'm sure otou-sama won't do it again." As one the siblings turned to look at their father._

_"Well otou-sama?" Temari asked. "You won't attack us anymore?" _

_"I wasn't really going to attack you, I was just trying to get Gaara to access his innate abilities." Their father said._

_"Still waiting." Temari sing songed and he nodded._

_"I won't try to hurt you then." _

_"I don't trust you." Gaara narrowed his eyes at his father. "I won't be coming to private lessons anymore." He said and then walked out the room with his siblings trailing him. _

_Flashback_

"I don't want to." Gaara spoke and his father glared at him.

"You have no choice. It's either that or your brother and sister could accidently get hurt on a mission and medical help could not come fast enough."

"Are you threatening us?" Temari demanded, and then narrowed her eyes at her father. "He said no. Gaara, Kankuro have you finished?" She said standing and Kankuro and Gaara copied her. "Then let's go." They left the room leaving the Kazekage stewing over the matter.

**Midnight**

Gaara looked up from the book he was reading in the library when he heard a noise, rather like the creak of a door. "Who's there?" He called out and a figure came out from the shadows. Gaara relaxed and said, "Oh it's you Temari, I thought you were asleep." He jerked back in shock as Temari threw three kunai at him and a wave of sand came up. "Temari, onee-chan what are you doing?" Gaara cried as Temari came at him.

"I've come to kill you Gaara. You're an abomination and have to be stopped." She said confidently and Gaara fell backwards where he started backing away from the approaching Temari.

"Temari why are you doing this? I thought you said you'll always protect me." He said and unnoticed silent tears started flowing down his cheeks.

"Ha!" Temari said scornfully. "I'm meant to protect my little brothers so I tried to treat you like my little brother but inside I've always hated you and wanted you to die. Finally I got tired of otou-sama wasting his time with killing you so I decided to do it myself. It was easy when I gained your trust." Gaara just stared at her in disbelief.

"You're wrong!" He cried desperately. "NO!" Another wave of sand came up as Temari threw more weapons at him. Suddenly the loud crashes against the library door came into focus as Kankuro and Temari burst into the room. They just stared in shock at the counterfeit Temari who stared back at them. However as Gaara glanced from the attacking Temari's eyes and the Temari at the door's eyes he made a quick realisation.

"Who are you?" He called desperately and the frozen Temari finally got over her shock that they had manufactured her face to kill Gaara and ran across to stand in front of Gaara, dragging Kankuro with her. She pulled out a kunai that had been strapped to her thigh under the nightgown.

"That's a very good question. Now take off that false face before I kill you." The false Temari laughed.

"Why do you still protect him? He's a monster, a demon."

"No he is not! Shukaku is a demon. Gaara the person is not." Temari said firmly.

"Why do you still protect him?" The false Temari asked as if genuinely curious of her answer.

"Because he is my little brother and I'm his big sister. I'm supposed to protect him because that's what family does." Temari answered and Kankuro nodded in agreement while Gaara looked at her in amazement. The false Temari laughed again and was surrounded by smoke as the henge dropped and it revealed Yashamaru. Temari looked sickened while her brothers looked horrified.

"You won't kill me. After all family is everything." Yashamaru gloated and Temari was filled with rage that even after showing him that Gaara was not a monster, he still tried to kill him and while wearing her face. Temari disappeared and then reappeared in front of Yashamaru and made a downward slice with her kunai. Since Yashamaru was not expecting an nine-year-old to have the speed or the nerve to kill him, he looked horribly confused as he bled out of his jugular and then collapsed on the floor.

"But traitors are scum of the Earth." Temari spat at him before turning round to face her brothers slowly. They were staring at her horrified but when Temari walked up to them they did not flinch away. "Are you both okay?" Temari asked her voice slightly hoarse. She had not meant to do this, to kill in front of them and at such a young age.

"Mari are you okay?" Was the first thing Kankuro asked. "This guy at the Academy told me that sometimes the first kill is sometimes the hardest."

"Yeah and since it was Yashamaru." Gaara stopped her and was unable to go on. Temari smiled tearfully at them and then she quickly sliced the palms of their hands. Kankuro looked confused but Gaara looked in amazed at the blood. Temari sliced her own palm before grabbing their hurt hands.

"Let's make a pact okay?" Kankuro and Gaara nodded. "Let's make a pact that we will never betray each other and that we will always be there for each other. Combining our blood," Here Temari clasped their cut hands together. "Makes it a blood pact. Do you both agree to this?" Again they nodded. "From now on we share blood and a even deeper bond than siblings. We're a team, we're family. Let's never forget that, swear?"

"Swear." They both answered together and Temari sobbed as she hugged them to her tightly. She was crying because Yashamaru died again, the fact that she was the one that killed him and the relief she felt that Gaara and Kankuro were still alive and Gaara still had not killed anyone.

**Next morning**

"YOU'RE GONNA WHAT?!" Temari shrieked at her father who winced at her loud voice.

"It would be safer for you if Gaara was removed from the home, after all he has killed someone and he could do it to you next. He's unstable at the moment." He replied and Temari breathed deeply trying to force away the urge to hurl several sharp, pointy objects at her father. Attacking the Kazekage is never a good idea.

"But Gaara did not kill him, I did!" She said forcefully and the Kazekage looked surprised.

"You killed him? But you're only nine." He commented, surprise evident in his voice.

"And Gaara's only six. Plus now that Yashamaru is not here you have no one to look after him and I highly doubt Gaara will go with you." She said scornfully.

"But Gaara is a monster." He protested and Temari finally lost it. She spun round to face him and glared at him.

"Listen you arrogant son-of-a-bitch, Gaara is not a monster, he's your son and my brother. And if you come near him or Kankuro ever again with the intent of harm or to say something that will cause emotional harm, I will rip your fucking head off. Are we clear?" Her father, in shock over the killing intent she radiated, could only nod dumbly. Temari put down her fist, which she had brought up to emphasise her point, said, "Then we have no problem." She then turned and skipped off to see her brothers.

They were looking in confusion and shock at the shinobi, putting Gaara's things in boxes and carrying them away. Temari coughed loudly to get everyone's attention.

"Change of plan. Gaara's staying right here." She said confidently.

"But Kazekage-sama told us to move his stuff." A confused jounin said.

"And if you don't put it down right now, then you won't care anymore about the Kage's orders because you'll be dead." Temari replied in a cheerful tone and most of the jounins put down the boxes.

"Yeah right like a little girl could do that." One guffawed and Temari appeared in front of him with a kunai pointed at his stomach.

"Your point?" Temari asked and he paled before exiting the room with his colleagues. She turned to her brothers.

"Okay ignore my example there, you can't get anywhere by threatening people okay, so don't do it unless it's a mission." They both nodded and Temari smiled at the trust they still had in her even after last night, even if Gaara was a little more stoic than usual and Kankuro a little quieter. She averted The Incident and that was what mattered.

**8 years after the Kyuubi attack**

"Gaara what have you done?" Temari questioned as she saw the dead body at his feet with a few traces of the sand being removed from it. He looked up in shock and then stepped in front of the body as if trying to hide a shameful secret.

"I'm sorry 'Mari, please don't be mad." Gaara said quietly and Temari's face softened slightly.

"I'm not mad but why did you kill him? We did not have any mission." She asked quickly stepping towards him.

"Okaa-san told me to and I know how you felt about 'kaa-san." Gaara muttered and Temari looked shocked.

"Where's okaa-san?" She asked urgently and her worse fears were confirmed when Gaara tapped his head. She raised her eyes and saw the familiar 'love' kanji tattooed to his forehead. "How did you get that Gaara?" Temari asked, her eyes looking horrified and Gaara finally picked up that something was wrong.

"I'm sorry 'Mari but okaa-san told me to do it to show the blood pact more strongly." Gaara said innocently and Temari gritted her teeth at how easily Shukaku used her actions against her. She was about to speak when Gaara frowned.

"Now she wants me to kill you. But I don't understand why, you're my sister." Gaara said more to himself than to her and Temari held her breath in rage. How dare that _thing _try to mess with Gaara?

"Gaara listen to me." Gaara's attention snapped to her and Temari continued talking in a firm voice. "That voice inside your head is not okaa-san, it's the demon sealed inside you Shukaku. Don't listen to that voice okay Gaara?" Gaara nodded slowly.

"Okay Mari I trust you." He answered confidently. Temari smiled at him and then drew him into a hug.

"Thank you Gaara." She whispered to him and Gaara's arms tightened around her.

"So you're not mad about the kanji?" He asked nervously and Temari shook her head.

"No I'm not mad. I just know that must have hurt so I'm sorry about that." She then kissed the tattoo, letting him know that she truly accepted it. But still that tattoo became a reminder that she failed to protect Gaara once and she could easily fail again.

Later that day, Temari was making a sandwich for herself when Kankuro and Gaara marched into the kitchen.

"What's wrong?" She asked, picking up the mood instantly.

"We've got a mission, an A-Ranked one. It's an assassination." Temari sucked in her breath at Kankuro's flat voice and cursed her father to the pits of hell.

"But we're all way too young, why does he want us to go?" She asked him and Kankuro cast a side glance at Gaara who noticed and replied,

"He wants to try me out." Scratch that, the darkest, murkiest, most revolting pits known to man or demon for their father.

"He's a bastard." Temari uttered before falling silent, trying to think things over. If they went that meant that they would be called up on more and more, but if they did not go, then there was a possibility that they would not be able to go to the Chunnin exams. It was a lose; lose situation. Temari heaved a sigh of defeat. "We'll go." Kankuro and Gaara looked momentarily surprised but not as much as she thought they would be. It seemed like it was not only them that were becoming easier to read.

**I'm so sorry that this is so horribly late, I mean it's been over two months! But in those two months I've started school and the work is crushing me. Along with the extra-curricular activities I'm meant to be doing to get into university and job-hunting. I was going to add more to this but I decided that if I added anymore I would hate it and it wouldn't get posted. **

**Thanks to all the people who reviewed:**

**kateshay, starlightscribe, Filthy Mushi, Kawaii Chibi-kun. **

**And thanks to all the people who favourited me and put me on alert!**

**kateshay, writingmaniac, MewIchigo Sasusaku, Kawaii Chibi-kun, (favourites) wert1990, tokokizora, starlightscribe, TimTam's rule, Silver Shadowbreeze, , MeiLeeD, Kyuubi Shiori-Chan, Booklover13.**

**Now to finish off this hugely long author's note I just want to say when you review (because I know you're all going to review since reviews are love) please tell me which parts were your favourites and which parts you didn't like, or were confused about. This will help me become a better writer and hopefully you'll get some enjoyment out of it too. So pretty please? **

**P.S I learnt that ane is another term for 'big sister' and ani another term for 'big brother' but I mostly used the ones that are widely used here so it didn't confuse people even more. Plus I'm not sure I'm even right so until I speak Japanese I will probably use the more common terms. **

**P.P.S Please tell me if I get any facts wrong. **


	3. Ino's Days

**Okay I promised several people that I would update before Christmas so here it is!**

**Ino's Days**

**8 years after the Kyuubi attack**

The first thing that came to Ino's attention when she woke up, after she and the girls did the jutsu, were worried voices calling her name. _The jutsu must not have worked, _Ino thought and was hit by a wave of sadness. _Now I'll never see Shika or Chouji or Asuma-sensei again and Sound will win..._

"Ino!" One of the voices called to her more insistently and Ino finally realised that they were not the voices of her friends, considering that these voices were male. She fluttered her eyes open to see two familiar spiky hairstyles and two familiar faces.

"Shika-kun! Chouji!" Ino said in a rush as she sat up and hugged them both. The two eight-year-old boys gasped and slowly turned blue as their air supply was cut off.

"Ino...air." Shikamaru managed to get out before Ino realised what she was doing and released them.

"What was the hug for Ino?" Chouji asked as he and Shikamaru rubbed their necks.

"I was just really happy to see you guys again." Ino answered truthfully and they both looked at her strangely.

"Ino you were yelling at us when you collapsed." Shikamaru said warily. Ino was acting....nice, which was strange in itself.

"I was? What was I yelling about?" Ino asked in confusion. As far as she knew, she had not really talked to Shikamaru and Chouji until their teams were assigned. Shikamaru shrugged.

"The usual. Are you sure you haven't banged you head? You seen rather forgetful." He asked carefully. He did not want her raging at him. Ino stared at him for a while.

"Forgetful?! Oh crap I forgot the others!" With that Ino sped off and Chouji turned to Shikamaru in confusion. He just shrugged and they went back to what they were doing before. Cloud gazing.

Ino, Sakura and Hinata ran into each other all at the same place; the Academy.

"'Kura! Hina! I'm so glad you're okay!" Ino shouted before saluting them solemnly. Sakura and Hinata returned the salute before they all hugged each other and laughed in happiness.

"We did it guys, we did it." Sakura said, almost bursting with excitement as they sat around the tree outside the Academy. Hinata sat on the same swing that she had seen Naruto on after the graduation exams.

"Yes forehead-chan, we know. And even if we didn't know, the last twenty times you've said that would have told us." Ino said, smirking as she lay on her back looking up at the clouds.

"Fine, fine I'll stop. Anyway back to business." At Sakura's serious tone of voice, Ino and Hinata immediately stopped what they were doing and focussed on Sakura. "We did not sort out exactly what we have to do." Sakura continued speaking and the other two nodded, showing that they understood. Ino thought about what they had discussed before they left.

_Flashback_

_"What do we do about the Uchiha massacre? Forehead this is all yours." Ino paced around the campfire. She had found it harder and harder to sit still and do nothing ever since the Soul Placement Scroll had been found. _

_"I don't know pig, now I know why Itachi did it, can I sacrifice all of Konoha to make sure that Sasuke does not lose his family?" Sakura turned tortured eyes up to Ino. They had all gotten into little groups of the people that were being sent back at once and it was Hinata, Sakura, Ino and Temari in one group and the other three in another group. _

_"You cannot. Also if you try and stop Itachi you could end up making something worse happen like the Council suspect you, or they could decide to kill Sasuke." Temari answered the question when it seemed that Ino and Hinata were unable to. Sakura sighed. _

_"I guess you're right. But I will try and prevent him from experiencing the Mangekou." Sakura glared at her friends as if daring them to tell her not to. _

_"Well ever since we found out that your little Inner will help you resist mind attacks, plus the fact that she wants to protect her boys just as much as you do, I can't think of a reason why not." Ino finally admitted and Sakura smiled slightly. _

_"Yes after years of annoying me, I can finally put it to good use. Do you think that's how I got my talent in genjutsu, by having a split personality?" Sakura wondered out loud. Temari snorted. _

_"Well if so then you can keep that talent."_

_"Guys focus!" Hinata's voice cut like a whip and informed the other girls that she was losing her patience. As Hyuuga clan leader, Hinata had to become as confident as the other girls. They, along with Naruto, had given her a crash course in confidence and it paid off when Hinata had managed to neutralise a member of the Hyuuga Council that was in favour of the curse seal. _

_"Right sorry Hina. What are you going to do about Naruto?" Sakura asked curiously and Hinata looked thoughtful._

_"We will have to include him, we can't just ignore him." She said firmly and the other girls nodded in agreement. Ino shuddered. _

_"Don't remind me. Ugh, I was horrible, I don't see what Shikamaru saw in me." Temari could not resist this chance to tease Ino so commented,_

_"Neither do we, Ino." Suddenly Ino was in front of her, looking at her with piercing eyes that you could only get by working in the Interrogation unit. _

_"That reminds me Temari, are you going to be having your little thing with Shika-kun?" Though Ino's voice was light her eyes still had the piercing quality about them. Temari pushed down her fear and chuckled. _

_"Why I don't know Yamanaka. I guess we'll have to have a fight. If I win, I get to do what I want, if you win I won't go after Shikamaru." Temari held out her hand and after examining her eyes, Ino slowly shook it. _

_"I agree to that. Of course it has to be back in our old bodies, it will attract too much attention here." Ino said and Temari smirked before releasing Ino's hand._

_"May the best girl win." She mocked saluted and though Ino narrowed her eyes, she said nothing. _

_Flashback_

"So I'm getting the weights, Ino you need to make contact with Tenten and Hinata you have to make contact with Shino, Kiba and Naruto. You know how they think and feel. We need to get everyone stronger." Sakura started biting her lip, a nervous habit of hers.

"But what if we change too much, they all get stronger and they get put into team with weak useless ninja and then fail the test the senseis do and get sent back to the academy?" Ino panicked and even though they had discussed this about them, it had never occurred to them that helping the boys get stronger might affect everything. Hinata suddenly smiled, a devious smile that she had picked up from being with Tenten and Naruto too much.

"Simple. The teams assigned are kept in the only locked room in the academy, I know when I was working there. The night before the teams are assigned we will sneak in and make sure everyone's in the right teams and if not change them." Hinata looked very proud of herself while Ino and Sakura stared at her in thought. Sakura was the one that worked it out first.

"That's brilliant Hinata! I mean if we can't do that then we might as well quit as ninja." They all laughed.

"Hey guys do you think that the guys will like me this time?" Ino asked her friends, suddenly unsure of herself. Hinata and Sakura both smiled at her reassuringly.

"I'm sure they will. I mean last time you didn't even want to be on a team with them and they still grew to like you like you grew to like them. Now that you're making an effort, they will be your boys again in no time." Hinata reassured. Ino grinned widely.

"Okay but I'll have to start playing Shougi with you again Sakura, otherwise I'll never be able to at least give Shika-kun a run for his money."

"Fine but even though I hate to admit it, Shikamaru probably could beat me in a game." Sakura said as she lay back on the grass.

"Yeah but even Temari could not beat him in a game. Plus you actually knew the answers in the Chunnin exams. Why do you think I copied off you?" Ino rolled her eyes and lay down with Sakura. Hinata looked at them upside down and smiled.

"I knew it." Sakura muttered and then squinted her eyes at the sun. Her eyes then widened and she scrambled to her feet ungracefully.

"Crap I have to go see Sasuke-kun! Bye guys see you later!" Ino and Hinata were just left there, still staring after her in shock.

"Thanks for the warning." Ino commented sarcastically before standing up as well. She sighed. "But she's right. I should be hunting down Tenten, meet her and then go and hang out with the guys. Are you off to meet lover boy, or maybe your nii-san or even you lovely team?" Ino raised an eyebrow at Hinata who stuck her tongue out at her. Ino laughed. "Oh that's real mature. The Hyuuga heiress sticking her tongue out? What would the Council say?"

"They would probably say something like 'You know that is not the proper way for a member of the Hyuuga clan to behave' and then I would stick my tongue out at them, Neji-nii-san would look shocked, Hanabi-chan would be hiding her smirk behind her hair and otou-sama would try to hide the proud look on his face by looking scandalised but it would fail when he would start to chuckle." Hinata recited with a fond smile as she remembered her family from the past...or rather the alternate future/past. Ino looked at Hinata in amazement.

"Wow I think your family is even weirder than my team."

"Yeah but still." Hinata also stood up. "I have to go and reunite my family, stick my metaphorical middle finger up at the whole of Konoha for how they treat Naruto-kun, and meet Shino-kun and Kiba-kun." Ino whistled.

"Busy morning. Well I have to go meet Tenten, attempt a casual introduction, manage to befriend her at least enough so she'll talk to me again. Plus I have to go and talk to Chouji and Shika and make a good impression otherwise I could ruin everything." Ino said in a dramatic tone and both the girls sighed. But then they perked up again and said brightly,

"Good luck." To each other before darting off in opposite directions.

Two hours later Ino was close to stamping her foot in frustration, which she refused to, knowing how childish she would seem. But how could it be this hard to find a genin level ninja? Then, as if some higher power was looking down on her, the object of her search appeared in front of her with several obviously new weapons clutched in hand.

"A weapons' shop?" Ino asked herself increduosly. "Of course it is Tenten." Before she started to scold herself (a bad habit she had picked up from Sakura) she darted forward and crashed into Tenten. They both fell back and the weapons hit the dirt but both kunoichi twisted to avoid themselves being impaled. Ino got up and began to help Tenten up, apologising profusely as she did so.

"I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going at all! And look I nearly impaled you with your weapons." Ino gathered to help Tenten pick up the fallen objects and Tenten gave her an amused look before answering.

"It's okay, I wasn't looking either otherwise I would have probably avoided you." Ino grinned. It was nice to see Tenten was still the same.

"Wait are you Tenten?" Ino faked a look of dawning realization and Tenten looked at her curiously.

"Yeah why?"

"Because I heard these two teachers talking about you. They said you were practically the best in the class!" Tenten looked surprised but she was smiling slightly so it was obvious that this news pleased her. Ino kept up her awed look when she asked, "Can you help me train? I have some problems with shruiken throwing." Ino inwardly winced as she wondered what Tenten from the future would say when she merged with her past self and got her memories. But she quickly shook it off and sent Tenten a pleading look.

"Well...I guess I could." Tenten answered in response to Ino's look. Ino squealed what Sakura had kindly dubbed in the future 'Pig's Squeal' and Tenten winced.

"Sorry about that. But I'm really glad. You must really like weapons. What are the different ones you have here?" Ino wanted to get Tenten to relax around her and it seemed it worked as Tenten went into detail about what each of the weapons was, what it was used for and how she was going to use it, even though Ino probably already knew all of it. However she nodded along and laughed at all the right moments. Without noticing it, they both started to walk along the street towards a familiar shop.

"I'm probably talking too much and boring you. Plus I didn't even get your name!" Tenten said horrified at her bad manners. Ino smiled widely.

"No don't worry it was interesting. I'm Yamanaka Ino by the way. You seem to be really enthused about weapons, it brought them to life like no Academy lecture can." Tenten blushed at Ino's compliment and changed the subject.

"Doesn't the Yamanaka clan has some special jutsus?"

"Yeah there are some mind jutsus. I'm learning one at the moment called the Mind Transfer jutsu. It allows me to control my opponents' bodies." Tenten's eyes widened at Ino's description.

"That sounds brilliant." She muttered before she was interrupted by Ino saying,

"We're here." Here turned out to be Ichiraku Ramen and as Tenten lifted up the cloth that hung over the entrance, she recognised one of her classmates.

"Hyuuga Neji-san?" She asked in shock and Neji turned around and greeted her with a neutral expression.

"Hello Tenten." Only Hinata, curious what could make Neji look so tense, examined Neji's reaction. Because of this she was the only one to notice that Neji's breathing sped up and he clutched his chopsticks slightly tighter. The only explanations were that Neji hated Tenten and was restraining himself from attacking her... or he liked her. Hinata smirked slightly and turned back to her ramen with a carefully neutral expression to stop herself from laughing out loud.

"Hello everyone." Tenten said carefully before Ino remembered that she did not know anyone there, apart from Neji apparently.

"Oh yeah everyone this is Tenten. Tenten this is Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, Sasuke and you already know Neji." She explained and Tenten smiled at everyone brightly before talking to Ino out of the side of her mouth.

"I didn't know that all these people would be here."

"Neither did I." Ino hissed back before seating herself and Tenten between Hinata and Neji. "So Hinata-chan having fun?" Ino asked brightly and Hinata nodded with a smile on her face. However Ino noticed the smirking look in her eyes which came from spending too much time with Naruto in the past-future and resolved to ask her later.

"So Hyuuga-san how did you get dragged onto this dinner?" Tenten asked her classmate, feeling awkward with all the lowerclassmen that she did not know around her.

"Call me Neji." He replied in a low, even tone and Tenten smiled.

"Okay Neji same question." Neji looked annoyed.

"I ran into my uncle and he wanted me to go with my cousin to keep her safe."

"Oh is Hinata-san your cousin?" Tenten asked, ignoring the undercurrent of bitterness in his tone.

"Yes." Neji answered, still with the same tone. After a long pause while Tenten debated with herself she finally answered,

"She seems nice. I think she looks on you as a big brother." There was a note of finality in her tone that let him know that she did not want to hear anymore of the subject from here.

"So how is your weapons training going?" Neji changed the subject. Tenten immediately brightened. It seemed everyone knew the subject that would get Tenten to relax and talk freely.

"It's going great, I might even beat you next time!" She said enthusiastically but rather than making him feel better, Neji felt worse. The only reason why Tenten had not placed first in the weapons category in the tests was because the teacher was more afraid of offending the Hyuuga prodigy than of offering fair grades. Because of this Neji felt that all his grades were tainted because of his Hyuuga name and this increased the bitterness against his family.

"You probably will." After this Neji was at a loss at what to say. He was not a usually talkative person and that was normally fine apart from the time when he wanted to communicate and was unable to do so.

"Maybe you can spar with Neji-nii-san next time, Tenten-san. He is trying to improve the accuracy of his Byakugan and he could use your help." Hinata stepped in, feeling sympathy for her cousin as she recognised his predicament. It seemed to be a Hyuuga curse to be unable to communicate properly with someone they liked. With her it was fainting, with Neji it was his naturally stoic personality and even Hanabi came under the curse when she had discovered that she like Konohamaru. Whenever he came near she had a tendency to drop whatever she was holding. Hinata smiled fondly at this but she came out of her memories when she saw Neji glare at her.

"Where did you learn that?" He asked stiffly and Tenten looked surprised. To her it seemed to be a solution to both their problems and she could not understand why Neji was mad.

"Ah come on Neji! It'll be great!" Tenten said cheerfully, unwittingly saving Hinata from a harsh interrogation.

"Sure Tenten." Neji gave in and then turned to the bowl of ramen that the cook had placed in front of him which he did not remember ordering. Ino watched this conversation with amused eyes before excusing herself loudly and told Tenten she would see her later. She had another mission to do now.

Ino arrived at the spot where she had last seen her friends and sure enough they were in exactly the same position.

"Shika-kun! Chouji!" Ino shouted as she run up to her friends and then throwing herself down beside them. Shikamaru and Chouji jerked up in surprise.

"Ino, what's made you so excited?" Shikamaru asked as he lay back down. Ino smiled brightly.

"Nothing, I've just made some new friends. So what are you guys doing?" She asked as she lay down beside Shikamaru who was in the middle of her and Chouji. She gazed up at him with affection knowing he could not see her.

"Ino stop staring at me." His voice came through her mind and she cursed his sixth sense.

"I was only staring at the person I was talking to who still hasn't answered my question." Ino retaliated with.

"Isn't it obvious? We were looking at cloud gazing. Which now you're here will be anything but peaceful. Troublesome." Shikamaru murmured and Ino felt as if her throat was caught in a vice and sat up.

"Okay I'll go." The well hidden misery in her voice managed to catch Shikamaru's and Chouji's attention and they both sat up too.

"Hey Ino I didn't mean you had to go." Shikamaru tried to right the wrong while he grabbed Ino's hand to stop her from leaving.

"But you would prefer it if I wasn't here." Ino's unhappy voice scared Shikamaru and Chouji who had never heard Ino so quiet in all the years they had known her. On the inside Ino was struggling to deal with her emotions. She had always struggled to hide her emotions especially around her friends but the fact she was close to crying over a throwaway comment was ridiculous. Shikamaru sighed and muttered,

"Troublesome." Chouji threw a look at him before turning to Ino.

"He doesn't mean that Ino, he's just saying that with you here things will be different but not in a bad way." Chouji tried to interpret Shikamaru's intentions in a diplomatic way but by the incredulous look Shikamaru had thrown at him he was failing miserably. Ino caught the look and even though it made her depressed again she shoved the feeling deep down inside her to be dealt with later.

"I know that wasn't what he meant Chouji but thanks for trying. Do you guys want to come round to my house for tea?" Ino was now smiling brightly at her future team and Shikamaru and Chouji were blinking in a confused manner at her bipolar personality.

"Sure." Shikamaru said carefully, trying not to set her off again and Chouji did likewise.

"That's great! Anyway you can go back to cloud gazing, I promise I'll be quiet." Ino smiled again and Shikamaru and Chouji smiled back before laying back down. Curling into Shikamaru's side slightly, Ino drifted off to sleep.

"At least she's quiet now." Shikamaru said to Chouji, glancing at Ino.

"Hey Shikamaru maybe you shouldn't be so mean to Ino." Chouji suggested cautiously and Shikamaru turned incredulous eyes to him.

"But I wasn't mean to Ino!" He denied.

"Fine then you were a bit insensitive. I think Ino's feeling sorry for how she's treated us in the past and now she's trying to become our friends. When you kinda said you didn't want to be with her I think it made her really sad." Chouji replied. Shikamaru looked at his friend with calculating eyes.

"You could be an empath Chouji." He finally said before looking up at the sky again. Chouji looked confused.

"What's an empath?" He questioned and Shikamaru was about to answer him when a whimper caught both their attentions.

"Ino?" Shikamaru queried the girl next to him who was tossing and turning now.

"Don't please!" Ino shouted before her voice fell back to inaudible murmurs.

"What's wrong with her?" Chouji said in a scared voice as he came around the other side of Ino.

"I think she's having a nightmare." Shikamaru answered and watched worriedly as Ino now thrashed from side to side, her cries growing in volume.

"Should we wake her?" Was Chouji's next question and Shikamaru reached for her shoulder, hesitated and then quickly shook her awake.

"Ino?" Shikamaru repeated as Ino opened bleary eyes at him which darted back between him and Chouji. A sense of déjà vu came over Shikamaru as Ino grabbed him and Chouji round the necks in a strange three way hug, the only difference was that she held on and would not stop sobbing into their shoulders.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered before he could stop himself but instead of making Ino worse, it made Ino pull away and smile, albeit very shakily, at them.

"Thanks guys." She muttered before releasing them and settling back against the tree. With confused looks the boys joined her but refrained from answering anymore questions.

A few days later Sakura, with Sasuke being pulled along and Naruto trailing behind, invited Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji to the Uchiha's house after the Academy. Ino was surprised but realised that this was Sakura's way of making Sasuke and Naruto more sociable and making sure that the close bond between the kunoichi members of the Rookie 9 and then later the Konoha 12 would not be questioned. Shikamaru and Chouji were also very surprised but assumed the invitation had come because of their association to Ino and of Sakura to Sasuke and thought no more about it until the day came.

"Please be polite you guys, this is the head of the Uchiha clan who we really need to impress if we want to still be friends with Sasuke." Ino pleaded with them as they walked towards the entrance to the Uchiha district.

"Why do you want to be friends with Sasuke so bad Ino?" Chouji asked and Shikamaru once again thanked whatever Higher Power was up there that gifted him with a friend that always seem to ask the questions that were in his mind at the exact same time.

"I don't but Sakura was the one that invited us so if we behave badly we make Sakura look bad and I know Sakura wants to remain friends with Sasuke." Ino managed to explain before they reached their destination where they caught sight of the other members of the Rookie 9 also in smart wear out of respect for Sasuke's family. She caught sight of a teenage boy behind Sasuke looking amused at this gathering of kids and with a jolt Ino recognised him as Uchiha Itachi_. He's not an enemy, he's just a bit of an insane idiot that tried to solve a big problem with the wrong solution._ She had to remind herself before she could look at the man without wanting to run away from him, or rather put herself between him and her future team_. Sakura knows what she's doing_. Was her last thought before Sasuke introduced his brother and they started to walk down the street to his house.

Five hours later as the nine children arrived at what would later be Team 7's training grounds, panting, Ino commented to the group,

"That could have gone better." Most rolled their eyes while Naruto looked guilty.

"I'm sorry guys." He said miserably and everyone stared at him in shock. This time it was Hinata who took the stand.

"For what Naruto? I don't know what Uchiha Fugaku-san can resent you for apart from a few pranks_," Lie_, Ino thought. "but I'm sure he will get over it in time_." If he doesn't get killed first by his eldest son_, Ino's next cynical thought was. "And if he doesn't, he is wrong and we will stand by you. Won't we?" Hinata turned her gaze to the group and they all hurriedly agreed but it was Sasuke who Naruto turned his worried gaze to and after a moment's deliberation during which Hinata's thoughts towards a certain Uchiha were obviously becoming more and more violent, he finally answered,

"When I asked otou-san about why he disliked you so much he couldn't answer. This makes me think it was a stupid reason and even though I wish he didn't my father makes mistakes sometimes and after being your friend I'm assuming that this is one of them." Each word was placed with care and precision and Ino suspected he had either been spending too much time with Shino or Itachi.

"Eh?" Was Naruto's confused answer and Sakura, who had been smiling brightly at Sasuke, translated,

"He's saying that his father is wrong in disliking you because he's your friend and he has not seen anything major to dislike." Naruto grinned at Sasuke.

"Thanks Sasuke." Sasuke scowled, though whether it was from anger or embarrassment that was painting his cheeks a pink colour, Ino did not know.

"How sweet, a friendship bonding moment." She could not help but comment even though she would probably get hell to pay from Sakura later. Sure enough she got a glare that promised death from the pink haired girl, who then turned to Sasuke and Naruto smiling after.

"Well I think that was great you guys and you should just ignore Ino."

"Sure Sakura-chan!"

"I was planning on doing that anyway." Were her replies and even though Ino rolled her eyes at them Sakura seemed satisfied at them and sat back between them.

**10 years after the Kyuubi attack**

Ino scrunched up her forehead as she gazed down at the board in frustration. This was the fourth game against Sakura and she still had not lasted more than 10 moves.

"Calm down Ino. Frustration blocks epiphanies." Sakura's calm voice floated through her frustration. Ino shot her an amused look.

"Where the hell did you get that? Out of a fortune cookie that Tenten keeps trying to make her eat?" She asked and Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Actually I came up with it all on my own. Stop scorning my genius!" Sakura tried to look offended but it fell under her smile.

"The only genius I'm willing to admit is Shika-kun. So how are Sasuke and Naruto today?" Ino asked absent-mindedly as she moved a piece.

"Sparring again. Sasuke-kun does seem more free than he was last time after the Uchiha massacre but I'm not sure because of the fact he has true friends or I prevented him from seeing the horror of what happened." Sakura answered as she captured another one of Ino's pieces.

"Yeah but you taking that hit also put you in the hospital for a month. Everyone was a wreck but especially Sasuke. He kept blaming himself until I said that it was your own bloody fault for doing the substitution jutsu and Sasuke could not have stopped you no matter how hard he tried." Ino snorted as she remembered the scene several months ago. Sakura frowned slightly at her.

"Actually it just stopped Sasuke-kun blaming himself on the outside, he was still beating himself up on the inside."

"I swear that boy just loves the guilt." Ino murmured, capturing one of Sakura's pieces. Sakura decided to change the subject before they got into another argument.

"So how is training with Shikamaru and Chouji going?" Ino sighed.

"Horrible. I now fully appreciate what Iruka-sensei had to do and then Asuma-sensei. I just can't get them motivated, after all it's not like I can say that soon we're going to be doing the Chunnin exams and put our lives in danger can I?"

"Ino the Chunnin exams won't be for another two and a half years, you have plenty of time." Sakura soothed Ino but it didn't work.

"But at the Chunnin exams it's going to be our one good chance to kill Orochimaru for good plus we have to stop the Sound invasion."

"Ino you panic too much. You could just keep your team out of the way during the Chunnin exams while Orochimaru is going after Sasuke-kun directly so there's no chance Team 7 can stay out of it."

"Please like I would do that. Also Hinata and her team would be there and I bet you that Temari and her team as well as Team Gai will show up." Ino pointed out and Sakura conceded defeat.

"Fine. Okay do this, train more with me or Hinata or even Tenten but don't try and include Shikamaru and Chouji in it. They will become curious why you have suddenly stopped trying to make them train, find out that you are doing it somewhere else. They'll feel left out and want to train again thinking it had been all their idea." Ino looked wary at Sakura's 'solution'.

"What if it doesn't work and they don't want to be my friends anymore?"

"Take a risk. Checkmate." Sakura won the game just as she finished giving Ino advice. "Go play with Shikamaru, at least it will help his strategy skills. I need to go find Sasuke-kun and Naruto, I have an idea for a new prank." Ino smiled as her friend left the training grounds and silence descended once again.

**12 years after the Kyuubi attack**

"Tenten is waking up today!" Ino greeted Sakura and Hinata with on the first day of the new year.

"Hello to you pig." Sakura replied with an amused tone.

"About that....I don't think we should go looking for Tenten until she goes looking for us." Hinata put forward and Sakura and Ino looked at her in confusion.

"Why not?" Ino asked.

"Because she is now on a genin team and we are in the Academy. It will look slightly weird if we picked a random day of training and interrupted it to talk to Tenten when the jutsu might not even be working today." Hinata pointed out and Sakura looked thoughtful while Ino looked annoyed.

"Well that sucks. I was looking forward to teasing Tenten about when we had Kiba's birthday party and she fell 'accidently' on top of Neji." Ino complained and Sakura sniggered and Hinata raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah but it will also make nii-san more annoyed at us which will make Tenten's job harder. Plus if I'm going to have to take a fall at the Preliminaries to Neji I definitely don't want him any angrier at me." Hinata said and Ino sighed in defeat.

"Fine fine you win. I won't appear in Team Gai's training grounds and hug Tenten while loudly proclaiming her love for Neji." Sakura and Hinata looked at Ino with mixed parts horror and amusement.

"Well if you had done that you would be dead, courtesy of Tenten, so I'm kinda glad that we stopped that." Sakura remarked before turning to Hinata. "Are you okay with the whole taking a fall to Neji sort of thing? We know what sort of damage it did to you." Hinata nodded.

"It spurred Naruto on to defeat Neji and that helped nii-san. Besides if I suddenly rise in power compared to what I've been showcasing at home then that will make Neji even more distrustful."

"So in other words a bad thing." Sakura summed up and Ino snickered just as they reached the classroom door. Opening it the three girls looked around. There were the usual gaggle of girls around Sasuke, some of the boys looking on jealously while others just ignored it. Kiba and Naruto seemed to be the only one laughing at Sasuke's plight and Ino could just see Sasuke glaring at them over the girls' heads.

"I'm still really ashamed that I was ever a part of that crowd." Ino said in a low voice to Sakura who looked faintly ill.

"Yeah no wonder Sasuke-kun didn't like any of us. I probably should go and rescue him though." Sakura sighed and went over to the girls who glared at her as she approached.

"May you rest in peace, forehead!" Ino called after Sakura who just did a rude gesture with her hand back at her. Ino sniggered before bouncing up to where Chouji and Shikamaru were seated and sitting herself on the desks.

"Ah!" Shikamaru, disturbed by the loud banging, woke up from his nap and banged his head on Ino's as he tried to sit up quickly.

"Ow that hurt." Ino moaned clutching her forehead.

"Bloody hell Ino you have a hard head." Shikamaru complained as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry Shika-kun." Ino apologised and Shikamaru nodded in acceptance and in an apology of his own. "Anyway are you guys excited? It's only 3 months until we become Genin."

"Sure Ino." Shikamaru answered as he put his head down into his arms again.

"Ah come on Shika can you not fall asleep? I don't know how you can sleep so much. I swear you have chronic fatigue syndrome or something." Ino whined and Shikamaru raised his head up again.

"How do you know about 'chronic fatigue syndrome'?" Chouji asked.

"I was reading some of Sakura's medical books. Anyway what do you guys want to do after school? Can we go train?" She asked eagerly and Shikamaru sighed before nodding.

"Fine but then you have to play 'Shougi' with me." He retorted and Ino nodded once.

"Deal!" Sakura came up behind Ino with Sasuke and slapped her round the head. "Ow forehead! What the hell was that for?"

"That was for the great concern you showed for my life earlier." Sakura answered primly, sitting down next to the desk Hinata was sitting on with Sasuke next to her.

"I showed concern for your soul. Isn't that enough?" Ino emphasised the word 'soul' and Sakura scowled at her.

"Well it would be nice to know that you worry about my soul not resting in the afterlife before you worried about my life." Sakura answered sarcastically and just as Ino opened her mouth to argue back Hinata called softly,

"Stop." Ino's mouth snapped shut and she and Sakura just settled for glaring at each other.

"We're graduating in 4 months." Hinata reminded them and the boys watched as a mischievous gleam appeared in Ino and Sakura's eyes.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered.

"Uh oh." Was what Chouji said when he saw the gleam.

"We have to go out with a bang." Hinata said innocently and then a cat like grin appeared on her face. "And with style." Ino and Sakura grinned back at her and they started plotting.

The next month Iruka came into the Academy in the morning and the tune he was whistling died on his lips. Every single floor, wall and ceiling was covered in tin foil. It crackled under his feet as he walked towards his classroom.

At the park two blocks away, the Rookie 9 smirked at each other as they heard Iruka's scream of irritation.

"Perfect." Ino remarked as she smirked at the rest of her friends.

**I know it's shorter than the last chapter but I really struggled with this chapter, it just wouldn't go. However any questions you have will probably be answered in Hinata and Sakura parts but still ask away!**

**Review thanks: starlightscribe, The Laughing Phoenix, Tomato-Vampire-Countess, insaneanimelover, Kawaii Chibi-kun, Dukect45, Life is all we got. **

**Many thanks to these people! However small bone to pick with the rest of you: 21 of you have alerted this story yet only 7 of you have reviewed since my last chapter. Yes I do like quality of reviews over quantity but it's only a spare 5 minutes that you add onto the reading time, it can't be that hard so please review. **

**Review please and tell me what you liked and didn't like. **


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